Summary
The 6th Friend is a fun slasher with plenty of twists along the way that fans of the genre should enjoy.
The 6th Friend is directed by Letia Clouston (Accidentally Engaged) and stars Jamie Bernadette (I Spit on Your Grave; Deja Vu) Chantelle Albers (In Search of Fellini) and Dominique Swain (Face/Off) and is a horror following six friends reunited after a tragic event.
The 6th Friend follows Joey (Bernadetta), Melissa (Albers) Heather (Swain), Katie (Morris), Sahara (Nolan) and Becca (Rosario), who have reunited five years after a drug-filled nightmare that nearly tore their friendship apart. Joey has become distant from the rest of the group and is here to help recover, only the six friends will need to battle for their lives when the past comes back to haunt the women.
The 6th Friend has a story which we know the basics of early on. We know how the slasher story generally goes; this one does have the same ideas as The Ritual in that the friends are meeting up after a traumatic experience which only leads to more horror for them to go through. The story does use the idea that the victims of the previous event have become celebrities, or at least used their stories to get by in life, with the exception of one who doesn’t want the spotlight. While the end of the film does make it stand out from many other slasher films, it does borrow from a big movie, but we won’t say which one.
The 6th Friend has performances from Jamie Bernadette (who also co-wrote the screenplay) in the leading role, who continues to grow her reputation in the horror genre, where she has put herself into a position of an indie scream queen that shows a different strength to many other iconic ones. Chantelle Albers in the supporting role gives us a performance that brings the celebrity status required to make her feel like a diva-like figure. The film has a small cast with the rest of the ladies filling the roles of generic genre figures.
The 6th Friend is a horror movie that fits into the genre by using the slasher sub-genre, which gives us a unique-looking killer that does have a backstory and a connection to the women, and the way the killer operates gives us all we need to be entertained. The mask is a big moment because like many franchise killers the mask makes them iconic, and you got to feel that The 6th Friend wants to bring us into a franchise. In horror you also need the location working for you; we are taken to a cabin in the woods with only vehicles for an escape means, and when they are unavailable, we see the isolation.
Overall The 6th Friend brings us a slasher film that does follow the formula we know and enjoy before giving us an ending we won’t forget easily.
